Microsoft Research Lab – Africa, Nairobi
At MSR Africa in Nairobi, one of our key goals is to support inclusive empowerment for individuals, organizations, communities, and countries to access pathways to growth and opportunities.
We seek to continue to build partnerships with both local and global researchers who have the interest, knowledge, expertise, and experience of working in the ecosystem in order to collectively understand and solve some of the challenges facing the communities.
Our Approach
We endeavour to do this by:
- Supporting in the strengthening of research capacity within universities in Africa.
- Engaging in collaborative research.
To achieve this, we have several approaches that we are using to build collaborated relationships, namely:
- Mentoring, curriculum development and review.
- Seminars, trainings, workshops, and collaborative conferences.
- Summer schools and visiting scholar program.
MSR Africa PhD Fellowship
Microsoft for the period of the fellowship and work closely with researchers on a team on topics of mutual interest.
In 2022, MSR Africa selected 3 PhD students at African Universities, as awardees of the Microsoft PhD fellowships. This was the first time awards have gone to students studying for doctorates at universities in Africa. In 2023 another 3 PhD students from Universities across Africa were awarded as MSR Africa as fellows.
Learn more: Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship – Microsoft Research
Our 2023 Fellows
Tezira Wanyana (opens in new tab), Naoya Muramatsu (opens in new tab), and Hasnae Zerouaoui (opens in new tab) were awarded as the Microsoft Research PhD fellows for the Africa region.
Our 2022 Fellows
Meet Dorcas Gicuku (opens in new tab), Olalekan Joseph Akintande (opens in new tab), and Sofia Bourhim (opens in new tab)—our first cohort of PhD fellows at MSR Africa. This first cohort completed their 3-month internship in July undertaking cutting edge research in climate, artificial intelligence & fairness, and recommender systems.